Gender differences in rewards for academic performance: the Case of North American environmental sociology

ABSTRACT

Although the subfield of environmental sociology within the United States has achieved near-equal gender representation in recent years, little has been done to assess gender equality beyond numerical representation. Using data collected from 401 environmental sociologists’ curricula vitae (CVs), this study investigates gender differences in publishing productivity and associated academic rewards in American environmental sociology. Findings indicate gender differentials in overall publishing productivity, with men producing more articles than women, but no significant gender differences for publication in flagship sociology journals, author-level citation accrual, or first job placement. Findings suggest the American environmental sociology subfield has greater gender balance for some scholarly rewards, but less so for overall publishing productivity. While results indicate improvement in some potential locations of gender inequality, more research is needed to assess other locations and to confirm that gender equity is within reach for the subfield.

KEYWORDS:

• Gender
• organizations
• productivity
• academia
• environmental sociology

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Julie Kmec, Dylan Bugden, and Erik Johnson for their guidance and support throughout the research process, as well as the editor and anonymous reviewers for their feedback on earlier versions of this manuscript. I would also like to thank Esther I. Wilder and William H. Walters for their assistance with dataset construction.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sam Castonguay

Sam Castonguay is a PhD candidate at Washington State University. Her research interests include gender and racial inequality, organizations, and environmental sociology.